Hate to disagree with you, but that is extreeemely, Extremely rare problem with lexus and especially with an LS. ( which is rated the most trouble free car by JD Power associates. https://acurazine.com/forums/automotive-news-6/j-d-power-vehicle-dependability-study-news-311340/ , and consumer reports, and 3 of my friends who own shops) My family has owned 6 lexus 3 of them LS all with over 150k mi, 3 MBs S class, 4 BMW7series, Audi . We've only experiance a problem with tannys with the Acura and one of the BMWs . We 've had other major problems with the MBs, Audis and BMW's But never a problem with the lexus. other than some small stuff here and there like a light or an amp static when they first switched to Mark Lev. I have to say Acuras have a lot less problems than MB and BMWs. but alot more than Lexus. that is why this is my first and last time to buy an Acura. ( Because of the Tranny issue)My friends who are mechanics say they are the best made cars. One of them even said he would rather have a 4yr old lexus than a New BMW because of the quality of lexus. And one of my good friends is the manger of the service departments of lexus. and He has only heard of a couple tranny issue with and ls out of thousands. but notthing where they had to replace a factory tranny or couldn't resolve to the customers satisfaction he said they are not perfect but they hardly have issues. ( after telling him about my tranny issues.)
As far as the tranny issue with Acura. its really new to acura as in just the last 5yrs, one of my good friends is a service advisor for Acura. shes told me they just cant seem to get it right and she owns a TL. she said if she didn't work for them buy a Lexus next because they are so trouble free.
Your friend must have done something to really F that up. Or bought one used that was F'd up. Or if its new its a very very rare lemon.
Out of all the cars we've owned the only car that has never given us any really problems was lexus. (its all we buy now, I may try Infinitin next) I've never met a person who had a problem with lexus that hasn't had it solved to his satisfaction. ( till Possably now) But Its is rare. And the first I've ever heard of someone with a tranny prob and I'm on the 3 diffrent lexus boards too.

I'm selling my car next month.

 

well you can have your opinion thats fine! my friends lexus was bought brand new and he did Nothing to (as you would put it "F it up"). EVERY CAR "can" and "will" have its problems. to say they dont makes you even dumber for believing it. hang out on the lexus, bmw, infinity,MB, chevy, chrystler, ford, boards, you will see plenty of issues, and problems with them all.

im glad you are going to be happy with something else next month!

 

Comparing the TL to the LS430 isn't a fair comparison. There's over $30k difference in price, I'd expect better quality.

 

Agreed. However 360's point of view, in general, is also echoed by two
indy shops I know of. Both said that the most trouble free cars they run
across are Toyota / Lexus. In particular they mentioned v6 Camry's and Es300
Lexus for Value / reliability / longevity. They also mention having incredible
problems with the upper end BMW's (electronic / software).

My own history with Toyota in three cars across 25 years is incredible reliability.
On the other hand fstty...s comment is well considered too as I have a brother
that had a mid 80's Toyota minivan that was one of the worst vehicles he had
ever owned.

In general I think Honda/Acura is right up there with Toyota/Lexus.......Until the
tranny issue.......that's one hellava black eye.

Now,....back to trying to figure out why my battery is dead a week after
getting my tranny replaced,.........

/Steve

 

Hmm.... this makes me wonder:

Many have installed cooler to no avail. But, with these improvements I
wonder if a cooler would now help things?

/Steve

 

possible, but all the improvements that would make a difference needs to be done on the inside. hopefully it will help

 

i never said lexus and toyota wernt reliable, just stating that they all can and do have their problems.

 

*cough*sludge*cough*

 

Optiq, with all due respect, i would not have taken my tranny to an independent shop to have it beefed up. for $3k and maybe a few hundred more you could have bought a VR tranny which is renowned for being bulletproof.

transmissions are a tough racket. either you know them or you don't. i don't even think i would trust lee miles or aamco to rebuild one. i've heard plenty of horror stories about the both of them.

every automaker has *some* problems. chevy, ford, vw, bmw, honda, etc. . everyone has problems at some time. although i have also been told by many many people that lexus is the biggest step up in quality as far as cars go. i just can't justify the price tag for myself right now.

i have a hard time understanding how honda never had transmission issues before now. there must have been some other issues in the past. anyone have any idea?

SSTS

 

hahaha true true!!!


yea they didnt have tranny issues before since this was a new design tranny
it comes down to a design flaw. the tranny on the TL is Very Strong. the parts inside just dont break due to its design. BUT in its design they didnt address enough cooling to specific parts and those parts are wear parts in nature and heat destroys them.

 

I spoke to the Technical division of Acura about the transmission before taking my '02 TL-S on a long X-country trip last month, and had a long discussion about the fixes and current status of the refurbished (all new components, not rebuilt) trannies. He called back a few days later and told me that the last update was in April '04 where the 2nd gear cooling was added internally, and that the 3rd gear clutch pack fix to the finish (improved/corrected) of the metal clutch plates had been incorporated earlier. Any trans replaced after that date should have these last updates incorporated. I did 6900 miles and no problems, fluid looked new afterwards. Seems the early multiple failures were because the first replacements were standard trannies since Acura didn't know what the problem was. Took them some time to figure it all out. Hopefully, it's fixed now.

 

Still not all fixed, I don't think. I'm sure there are still failures (or multiple ones) by cars who have had transmission replacements since before April of last year.


EDIT: It is not likely that Honda will ever fix these transmissions completely. It would be too costly, and the cars are getting older now and have all been replaced by new models.

 

I think I have everyone beat!!! 2002 Tl type-s 26,800 tranny failure!! I just posted what had happened.

 

My replacement tranny is doing great i got a brand new one from acura because of a recall to mine

 

no i know there have been some in the single k's that have failed

 

I've heard that some barely made it off the lot in the beginning....

 

yup and there have been some with the rebuilts that barely made it off the lot also